Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Just Three - May Linky

May is here! It's time for our "Just Three" Linky party! :)

Wow...

May is my birthday month, and also an extremely busy time of year for us.
Right now, if you're curious about this farmer life, they're working the dirt to get it ready for planting. The fields around our house have started flooding, which means the seed will be flown on soon.

My house is surrounded by rice fields in all directions as far as you can see.
And crop dusters, bless them, have insane hours this time of year trying to get all the seed planted. Beings that I have lived in Asia for a time, and visited China, and actually saw hand-planting myself, you'd think that I'd appreciate these propeller powered beasts... but sometimes it's hard to appreciate anything at 5:30 in the morning that wakes up mommy and babies.

If only I liked coffee.... ;)

Anyway -- despite the challenges of long hours, I'm feeling all kinds of inspired. :) Sometime during the next month, the little man will make a trip to Grandma's, and I will have a chance to work uninterrupted for a bit (though wouldn't you know, I miss him like crazy the moment I drop him off...)

1) Finish Pattern #2 quilt, tentatively named "Penny Candy" and get it published, as well as getting paper patterns for French Kisses done.

I have the top done (minus borders technically), most the calculations calculated, and the baby version in progress (still). BUT -- paper versions for French Kisses have been formatted, and I need to call the printing company again, because I haven't heard back from them with my quote.

Reflection -- In the future, I will write patterns so that they don't take so many pages, because I like to print them in color. The positive though is that all the feedback from the pattern so far has been positive, and people are reporting that the directions are clear and construction is smooth... *phew*

I am going to be swapping with a local photographer -- quilts for professional pictures of my adorables. I showed her Kelly's pinterest board (where a photographer buys quilts from Kelly to use as props), and she liked this one best. It's made with Hunky Dory, and the only Hunky Dory I had left were some wonky nine-patch blocks from when I made this project/tutorial. After consulting some friends, they told me that for photos, I should skip the sashing and mash the blocks together. Because I only had 11 blocks, I pulled some coordinating solids and filled in the missing spot, then threw a very pale pink bella solid for the border (white doesn't photograph as well).

Kelly is sending me some backing fabric, and this will be done.

3) My final goal was to make something pretty or fun for myself...

I got started on Scarlet's quilt. I'm using all pretty colors and favorite fabrics, and a sort-of original idea that, again, was dreamt up while nursing her.

And I love it. Ali is helping me work out a couple kinks in where the seams match, but it's coming together beautifully.

2) Finish quilts for photographer swap and get pictures of the kiddos done! (I also need to get #1 done, so maybe I can get professional pics of the quilt top at the same time... this sounds like a great idea to me) ;)

3) Make some bags. Michelle has a new pattern coming soon, and I'm going to make one for my future SIL, and maybe one for me too. And maybe a couple Mother's Day gifts...we'll see how it goes around here.

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And so I don't leave feeling unaccomplished for the month, I'm going to remind myself that I'm pretty much a one-woman show right now, and we've made some great progress in other areas of our life...

2) I've bought my last box of diapers for Steiger, and he knows more and more letters and numbers.

3) Steiger has a room (we're no longer like this), with an actual wall now, and a bed, and he's sleeping in there. (And I'm stalling moving Scarlet out of our room because, even though we have a small house, her being across it feels so far!) Expect to see more on the kids' rooms soon as I attempt to decorate! :)

Can't wait to see your reports and goals! You have all this week to link up! :) Write up your post, grab a button, and come back here to link up!

(also linked to Lee's!) and Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day!

*P.S. You don't have to have just three goals for your month, but you have to pick just three to play along. If you accomplish more than that, then don't tell me about it, then it's just extra bonus! :)

13 comments:

Not blogging at this time but...These were my April goals#1 finish at least 15 pillowcases for Conkerr Cancer (or a local Children's hospital)#2 finish 3 baby quilts that are in various stages of progress.#3 finish my ETCHINGS Piece of Cake quilt - it will be MINE all MINE!

I made and mailed 13 pillowcases.I finished and gifted 2 baby quilts.I worked on my Etchings quilt but alas did not finish it.

Congratulations on your (almost) finishes! The wonders of busy husbands and little ones is that while we don't always finish what we started out to do, at least we always got something done. That last box of diapers is a big one - congrats!

Happy birthday for this month! I too am a May baby (all the best people are) and have just turned 40. No where near as scary as I thought it would be, and my children still tell me I'm a fun mum - so it's all good!